Outbreak
by xLostXDollx
Summary: When a young Social worker named Grace comes into the clinic with some very odd symptoms, House and his team take a big interest in her case.
1. Warning Signs

Title: Outbreak (Chapter One: Warning Signs)

Author: Katy aka xLostXDollx

Rating: K

Character(s): This chapter, only my Original Character, Grace Pearson.

Disclaimer: I don't own House MD or any of the characters. I just like to play in their little sandbox. D

Notes: My FIRST attempt at House fanfic. Tell me what you think!

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"Any and all Employees who haven't come by to pick up their Insurance plans for the new year need to do so immediately."

Grace rubbed her temples as the monotone voice of the building's Secretary echoed through her office. She took a deep breath and resumed looking through the stack of papers she had in front of her. Brushing a strand of her dark blonde hair away from her eyes, she looked up at the woman who sat in front of her, on the other side of the desk.

"I'm sorry about that, Mrs. Richards," Grace apologized quietly with a soft smile as she finally pulled out the form she needed. Picking up the gold and royal blue pen that sat on her desk, she circled all the places her client was supposed to sign. "Here you are," She said as slid the paper across the desk and handed the pen over also. "Just sign where I've indicated." Grace advised with a warm smile as she sat back in her chair.

Mrs. Richards nodded and started to initial all of the small lines. Grace sat there for a few more moments, looking around her office. Child Custody Services was printed in bold letters on the papers Amy Richards was signing at Grace looked at her for a moment more. Grace squinted her eyes for a moment as she looked over at the window which was wide open. So much sunlight, too bright. Grace stood and straightened her gray and white pin-striped skirt. She walked over to the window and shut the blinds, trying to ignore her headache. She'd taken some Advil this morning but thus far it had done no good.

She started back to her desk and found herself stumbling a little. So much for wearing heels today…. Grace grabbed the edge of her desk and smiled nervously at Amy, who was done with the papers. Grace sat down in her chair quickly and reached across the desk taking the papers from the woman.

Grace took the small stack of papers and looked them over. She blinked at the paper for a few moments and flipped a page.

"Alright, Mrs. Richardson, it looks like w--" Grace suddenly stopped talking, forgetting what she was going to say. "I, um, just lost my train of thought…" She said with another nervous laugh, trying to deter Amy from asking her what was wrong. Try it again, Grace told herself. Go on and speak, you remember now.

"We're good to go," Grace said quickly before she forgot it. "Just let me put these in Angela's file and you'll be all set." She stood once again and got about half way to the filing cabinets before she stopped abruptly. What was I going to do? What was I going to do? Her mind was working a mile a minute but there was nothing there. She was completely blank.

"Ms. Pearson? Ms. Pearson, are you alright?" Amy's voice rang out through the office and Grace slowly looked over at her.

"I really don't think so…" Grace trailed off as she dropped the papers and left the office, telling her boss that she needed to go to the doctor. Something was wrong and she knew it deep down. 


	2. First Encounter

Title: Outbreak (Chapter Two: First Encounter)

Author: Katy (xLostXDollx) 

Rating: K

Character(s): In this chapter; House and Grace.

Disclaimer: I do not own House or any of the characters. If I did, the show wouldn't be as fun.

Notes: Heh, I totally don't know what I'm doing. In the next chapter we've got lotsa drama and some getting to know Grace.

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Grace looked around the exam she was in, sighing softly. She'd gotten to the Clinic at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital as fast as she could and Grace was now sitting in exam room one, waiting for her doctor to come in. She felt strangely dizzy and sleepy and Grace found herself wanting nothing more than to lay back and go to sleep.

Running a shaky hand through her hair, she looked to the door when it opened. At first all she saw was a wooden cane and then a person. An older man stepped in and Grace straightened her posture, presuming him to be her doctor, seeing as how he was looking over her chart.

"You have a headache?" He asked without looking up at her.

"Yes," Grace answered. "A very, very bad headache. It's lasted for about a day now. Advil and Tylenol don't help."

"What about Ibuprofen?" The Doctor mumbled as he sat the file down on the counter. 

"Tried that, too. It didn't work." Grace replied as she crossed her arms over the top of her stomach.

"And," The doctor paused, looking positively bored. "You've had a small fever. Sounds like Sinus problems. Go home, drink some hot tea, relax, sleep."

"I can't sleep," Grace said quickly and the doctor finally looked up at her, his blue eyes meeting her green ones. "I feel restless at night. I don't want to try sleeping medication so I really haven't slept much."

"Which could explain the, I don't know, headache and fatigue?"

Grace was taken aback slightly by his bluntness and she regarded the Doctor curiously.

"I'm not missing sleep because I want to," Grace said slowly. "I cannot fall asleep no matter how long I lay in bed."

The Doctor seemed to ignore her and he looked back down at the file. "You had an incident at work today?"

"Yes, it started out as simply as forgetting what I was saying. And then it went to not remembering what I was doing while I was one my way to the filing cabinet."

"You remembered just now.." The Doctor said.

"Did I, now?" She snapped before she even could stop what she was saying. "I'm sorry, I don't why I did that." Grace apologized, going back to her calm nature. The Doctor just stood and looked at her for a moment.

"We're going to keep you a while, run some tests," The doctor replied as he picked up her file.

"Well, why?" Grace asked, curiously.

"Well, BECAUSE. I said so," The Doctor said before he turned and walked out of the room, leaving Grace to wonder what was going on. She stayed in the exam room for a few more minutes until a Nurse came in to bring her the papers she needed for Admittance. It was going to be a long day, she just knew it. 


End file.
